Vote B08YD - Contiki Reality Show

http://contiki-ph.dnsalias.com/preview.html

It's election time folks! Well not really. Contiki is offering a free trip from Sydney to Cairns on March 30th to 1 Canadian and 2 Brits who get the most votes in a photo contest. The trip is going to be filmed and turned into an 8 part reality TV show. Who better to be on reality TV than me???? I have gone with the tried and true picture of me using a power hose, as well, a power hose. I need your votes people as I'm still hovering around 36th place. A vote of 10 is Best (give me a 10), and give other people something that isn't a 10 :) .... or just vote how you feel. Hint 1 = Bore ;). The website isn't the most viewer friendly as you have to actually go through random photos until my picture comes up, but while you are doing that, just envision the fun times you'll have watching me on TV!

The Link Again click here

Two kinds of Speed

I've been taking Yoga at 6:30am out in Leederville for the past 3 weeks. I usually bike the 25 minutes there, and it's very tranquil as there are no cars on the road and no people on the paths. However, today was a little different. As I locked up my bike outside the studio, there was a big, bald guy in his early 30's bouncing around like a 6-year old waiting for his birthday party to start. He quickly approached me and trap me in conversation as I tried to get by and into the studio. "Hey man, I'm on SPEEEEED. You want some?" ..... "no, I'm ok" ..... "It's alright, I got plenty, over that way in my apartment" ..... "no, I think I'll just go to Yoga today" ..... "Come on man, it'll get you really horny!" ..... "Well it's 6:30am, I don't want to get really horny, and I think watching hot girls wearing tight fitting clothes, and stretching for an hour and a half would be a lot more enjoyable" ...... He really wouldn't take no for an answer. He probably just wanted my Yoga-Hot Body.

The second Speed today came at the bookstore. Books in Australia are very expensive. Paperbacks are minimum $15, except at this one store at an outlet mall where they are just $5. The book I found, was "CSI: Miami - Harm for the Holidays Heart Attack" .... instead of Home for the Holidays. Classic!!!! I can't wait to READ what Horatio will do in Harm for the Holidays Heart Attack. Oh yah, Speed was a character on CSI: Miami that they killed off a few years ago. Any mention of the drug Speed makes me think of him.

Penguin Island ..... but without Morgan Freeman's soothing voice

Today I made my first trip down to Rockingham with the plan of visiting Penguin Island. WA's largest penguin colony. The penguins located there are the smallest in the world. And yes, not all penguins live in Antarctica. Originally I wanted to bike there and back (2x 45km), but since I'm not used to going more than 20km at a time (and my knee hurts), I decided to take my bike on the new Mandurah Line train. It took about 1 hour from leaving my station to get to Rockingham. Since Transperth was so clever as to not provide a map of the Mandurah Line, I had no idea where I would be getting off the train. Rockingham also has bike paths that disappear and go in wonky directions .... something I would come to realize on the way home. The highlight of the initial visit through Rockingham townsite was seeing K-mart .... unfortunately, no Blue Light Specials.

The waters in Rockingham are crystal clear and very very calm. The above photo was taken near John Point .... renamed Jon Point .... by me. Can you say .... good for snorkelling!!!! I could have spent the day just hanging out here. But continued my trip towards Penguin Island.

As there are no stores on Penguin Island, I was advised to buy lunch beforehand and take it on the ferry over. Forgot to mention that one. You can actually walk along a sandbar for the 1km to Penguin Island. However, you have walk at least chest deep, so it's tough to take stuff over, and rogue waves can sweep you way. So instead I took the ferry. Oh yah, so I went for lunch and saw Hot Dog on the menu!!!!! WOW, they are not common here. And I even got some real ketchup too..... even less common .... ugh vegemite *shudder* *shudder*

Penguin Island is really small and you can easily walk around it in 45 minutes or less. You are not allowed on the vegetation as the penguins (and other birds) use this for their nesting sites. Instead, you walk along a wooden pathway built above the vegetation.

One of the many cool birds located on the island. My favourite was Jimmy with a mohawk. These birds sorta looked like penguins but were very small and could fly. Not penguins, but you could get right up to them, this photo was taken about 6 inches from the bird. Sweet as.

This was a cave that was home to Seaforth McKenzie, the first resident of Penguin Island. He was Canadian. This brought a tear to my eye. "Oh Canada, Our Home and Penguin I-Land"

There were pelicans EVERYWHERE. This is one of 9 pelican mating sites in all of Western Australia. It's a VERY VERY big state. Something about Penguin Island gets these guys going. I probably saw about 100 Pelicans in that area.

Jonny Enjoying the water. It was awesome to swim. Because it was so shallow, it was really really warm. I ended up going in swimming for 30 minutes.... with an ear plug. So far things are ok on that front.

Actually finding penguins is a little saddening. I had the option of paying $6.50 to see the Penguin exhibit and feeding. But I've already seen them up close at Perth Zoo, and saw a live feeding at Taronga Zoo (remember March of the Babes) and (2), so I wanted to focus my attention on seeing them in their natural habitat. Turns out their natural habitat is underneath wooden walkways. And the vision you have of them marching around jumping in the water disappears, and you are left with the sight of them sprawled out, not moving, except for the odd twitch. Supposedly they are nocturnal, but you aren't allowed on the island after sundown. They probably throw a party when everyone leaves. Just like my family did after I went to bed when I was a kid (I had to go to bed first cause I was the youngest).

I think I'm now going to name my first kid Seaforth .... Boy or Girl ..... Seaforth Boyd .... it has a good ring to it!

Part of the reason I decided to train there, and bike back was because the winds come from the hills in the northeast in the morning, and switch to strong winds from the southwest in the afternoon. Theoretically that means downwind both ways, but I wanted that strong wind on the way home. Surprise, surprise, the winds didn't change today. That meant a fun filled bike ride. My plan was to go to Freo (35km away) and if things went well, all the way home (45km).

There were some memorable moments. There was the Grain Processing Transport Plant, Sewage Treatment Centres (thought I was going to die), Oil Refineries, Large Trucks dropping gravel on me as they flew by. But the real highlight was ambiguouty in the Bike Trails. I made the mistake of deciding to wing it and not look up a bike route map. How hard could it be. You just go north and keep the ocean on your left. There were signs that pointed the direction of the Bike Route, however, the genius who put them up seems not to realize the #1 most important part of directions. You DON'T have to point the bike arrow straight in the middle of a road (no intersections). You DO have to point the bike arrow to the left or right for a turn. You can't assume people just know when to turn.

Some of the lanes on the highways were really good, (2 metres wide), some weren't (2cm wide). The roads were actually the best part, the problem was when I would find an actual bike lane. Enter the trouble.

This lane was only 30 to 40 metres long and went nowhere. I was dumbfounded for a good 10 minutes. Why would they put the effort to build something so small. I could just pick up my bike and walk that (foreshadowing). Whenever I would end up on a bike line, it twisted and turned more than a strand of DNA (token genetic comment of the day). I probably would bike twice the distance than if I stayed on the road. At one point, near South Beach in Fremantle, on a bike path right near the beach I hit about 3 detour signs all pointing in different directions. The only open lane (and where the last detour sign was pointing) went straight onto the beach. The bike detour is on the beach?????? I pick up my bike and start trekking. I make it about 50 meters and realize there is still another 450 to go. Not going to make it. Back track again. Yeah!!!! After 2 hours of hardcore biking I make the Freo Train line and make it home!

Nature's Beauty - Limestone cliffs and Oil Refineries

Lesson's Learnt -

1. ALWAYS have at least 3 litres of water with you! Thank goodness for being prepared. I probably went through 15 litres of fluid for the whole day. That's a lot of drinks!
2. Don't Order Hot Dogs in Australia, they are weird looking
3. A hurt knee stops hurting when you absolutely have no choice but to keep going
4. Pelicans are making a comeback as Jonny's fave Aussie Bird. Look out Kookaburra.
5. Watching Penguins without Morgan Freeman's voice is just plain boring ..... is Morgan Freeman ever in a movie where they don't use his voice as the story teller (March of the Penguins, Million Dollar Baby, Shawshank Redemption). I wish he we would read to me as I go to bed tonight.

More Exciting fotos from the day click here

Freezies, Beach, Jonchos, Beers, Fireworks - The Perfect Australia Day!!!!!

So yesterday was Australia Day. Another excuse for Aussies to get completely drunk and cause mayhem. The day began with Marie-Claude and Jonathan meeting at my place before heading down to Claremont's FREE Australian Day breakfast at the local pool. The breakfast was free, but it still cost $5.00 admission to get into the pool area. It seemed a little strange to be serving people a large meal right before they went swimming. We were so heart broken that we just headed back home for our own brekkie and freezies. Enter Face Paint!

Me with the Union Jack, Maple Leaf, and an Aussie star
Marie-Claude sporting the AUSTRALIARM
Jonathan pulls out the Tatts!

After the disappointment of the "free" breakfast, we painted our faces, and biked down to City Beach to meet up with Tom. It was very windy for 35C, and the waves were pounding a bit. I went in for a little with an ear plug (remember the ruptured ear drum). The beach was pretty good.

Losing the face paint after the sea water

After the beach, we headed back to my place for some Jonchos. Mmmmmm Jonchos! Jonchos are nachos that feature sliced chicken (thus actually making it a proper meal). Other ingredients include green and red pepper, onions, tomatoes. The secret to the Jonchos is layering! In a way it's similar to a lasagna. No chip should be left without any cheese. We then watched some Russel Peters and had a good laugh with our Jonchos. Also consumed many more freezies!

Jonchos

Off to a Party at Shonny and Jen's place in Subi. The train was rocking. There were 3 people in Australia Flag Capes, and a beach ball was being hammered back and forth throughout the train.

The party was very good. The highlight for me was playing PS2's Sing Star. A karaoke game that scores how well you hit the notes in a song. I did a little "Paint It Black" ..... I lost...... It was starting to get dark, so we headed off to King's Park to check out the fireworks.

Checking out the fireworks

King's Park wasn't the most spectacular place to see the fireworks. South Perth would have been better, but they were still very good, and lasted for 30+ minutes. In a way they actually rivaled the Sydney Fireworks.

After they were over, Marie-Claude, Jonathan, Matt, and I biked back to my place before reloading on some Freezies!!!! FREEEEEZE.

On The Move .... soon

So I've now set up some dates to go travelling to the south coast, then New Zealand. In 4 weeks I'm going to fly out to Adelaide and spend a few days, then drive to Melbourne. Then fly to Christchurch in New Zealand for a 3 week tour. Finishing in Auckland where I'll spend Easter. I then have a flight booked for Brisbane. After that it is still up in the air. Hopefully I'll be able to get up in the air as my ear hasn't improved too much yet. Mom and Dad arrive in 2 weeks and I'm stoked to get to Rottnest Island again.

Tomorrow is Australia Day! I'm all set. I've got the Aussie Flag, my Aussie soccer jersey, my boomerang, beers, barbecueable meats, temporary tattoos and face paint!!!! Should make for a rather interesting day.

Goodbye Heath

Heath Ledger as The Joker

I think that by now everyone will have heard the tragic news of Heath Ledger's death. It's very sad news. It has hit close to home here in Perth. Heath was born and grew up in a neighbourhood nearby. His parents and sister still live here, and he was back for a month during the Christmas/New Year's holidays. It has really affected the people of Perth and Australia.

I have always been a big fan of the batman movies, and was anticipating the new movie this summer. It will be difficult to watch him play Joker; a role that may have been the cause of his death. Goodbye Heath.

Paddle Pop Success

Finally!!!!! After spending a small fortune on Paddle Pops, I have finally come up a winner! And of the things to have won ......... A FREE PADDLE POP!!!!! Wahoo. Now the big question .... which flavour to choose?

This Is How You Remind Me Of A Fudgesicle

The Australian summer is becoming a little boring and monotonous. Let's see .... i think it's going to be sunny .... and ...... let's go with hot today! Day after day, sunshine and warm weather, it never changes. Thank god for Air Conditioning .... and PADDLE POPS!!!! I usually go through at least 1 a day! My first Paddle Pop experience occurred in Kalbarri during my first week. I saw a banana popsicle and bit at the opportunity, literally. It didn't disappoint. Mmmmmm banana. It also became JP's favourite when he was in WA and he convinced members of his Ayers Rock tour that Banana is the way to go.

Also high on my list is the Chocolate variety. This is the Australian equivalent of a fudgesicle. Mmmmmm fudgesicles......

My least favourite of the 3 is Rainbow. Although still very tasty, I feel there is just too much going on, visually and tastebuddily. On a funny side note, my Australian friend Mark went once went as a Rainbow Paddle Pop for Halloween.

Paddle Pops also have a Lick a Prize contest where you collect your popsicle sticks and if you match up the correct puzzles, YOU WIN!!!! I just need one more to win a holiday in queensland, a new tv, a boat and a bike. Just one more in each of them!!!! Gotta keep eating, odds are I'm sure to get that last one!

One of the more hilarious parts of Paddle Pops is there lion mascot, who I originally thought kinda looked like Chad Kroeger from Nickelback. I did a little research and found a Facebook Group dedicated to this phenomenon. Wow! Is there anything the internet can't do?

Ruptured Eardrum

Continuing my trend of great moments in 2008 (remember midnight at New Years, and the wave that flipped me), I had an unfortunate incident involving a qtip and shuddering from being cold in the air conditioned house. Result: Ruptured Eardrum. Can you say "Oww!". It was a very intense initial pain. Fortunately it hasn't affected my hearing at all, but it's still a little sore when i burp, hiccup or sneeze. You don't realize how often you do those things until it's painful to do so. As it seemed to be a serious injury, I actually went to see a doctor, and she said it should heal in a couple weeks, and the only thing I can't do is fly in an airplane. She said no worries about going swimming and such, but if I'm worried, I can stick some Blu-Tack into my ear. Blu-Tack is a sticky chemical that is a cross between bubble gum and play-doh. I went to the pharmacy today, and the woman there thought that was the dumbest idea ever, and got me a real ear plug instead. Hmmmm, makes me wonder how good a job that doctor did.......

Blu-Tack

Cereal Blog # 8 - Skippy Corn Flakes

After a brief hiatus .... the cereal blog is back (not with the promised Uncle Toby's). I've moved on. I decided to get the australian version of Corn Flakes. Yes they have the Kellogg's version with it's rooster or whatever bird its trying to represent, but this corn flakes has a Kangaroo as its mascot. It's also 99% Fat Free!!!! So, it's not Fat Free???? Australian foods are never "Low in Fat", they are always a specific number, 85% Fat Free.

One thing that is nice about this cereal, is that the box actually suggests adding kiwis and strawberries to make the cereal more enjoyable. I've also added bananas. It takes the away the plain taste that Corn Flakes offers. It's exactly like the Kellogg's version at half the price!!!

In Smoothie News .... the Gourmet Wizard had an incident where it chopped up the plastic ring. It may be out of service for sometime. Heartbreaking.

Cockfreeze or Cockburn!

Yup it's true, there is Ice Skating in Perth!!! There are actually two arenas, one north of the city and one south. We decided to choose the rink based on the coolest name. Sorry Mirrabooka .... Cockburn wins out this round!

Matt, Marie-Claude, Jonathan, Me

Surprise surprise, but the only 4 people who decided to go were Canadian. All other non-Canadian people backed out last minute. It's funny how they can laugh at a Canadian learning to surf, but when the roles reverse, they disappear.

Marie-Claude and Jonathan

The level of skating at the arena was quite high. Almost as if the only people who actually go skating, are people who know how to skate. There weren't that many people out there wobbling. We had some pretty intense games of British Bulldog, or Tag as they call it, and one little kid just would not admit to getting tagged. One kid also got clotheslined by a big dude, and broke his watch. Also saw Crosby and Fleury Penguins jerseys.

Matt flying down the ice

Skating is quite expensive at $17 with the skate rentals. But when you imagine how much power it takes to keep the ice frozen you can understand.

Pulling out the figure skating moves

At one point they had a Speed Skating session, so I went out and got the legs flying! It then got awkward as I thought it was some form of race, but in actual fact they were just allowing space for people to go really fast..... It felt like home for all of us to be on the rink again. Not too often can you sprawl on the beach with 30+ weather in the afternoon and then go ice skating at night.

The home team of Cockburn is the Hawks .... I may just have to move here permanently and play for them!

Jacques' Back!!!

Last night, on the ride back from Cottesloe, Jacques suffered a serious injury to his rear wheel. Deflation. There was no sign of glass or nails or thorns in the tire, but still the tube got punctured. Maybe from overuse? Today, I inflated the tire as best I could, and headed off for the local shop "The Bicycle Entrepeneur". I made it half way before it got very difficult. When I got there and asked about getting a new tube replaced, it looked like the might be able to squeeze me in sometime on the weekend. When I explained that it was my only form of transportation, they were so blown away that they got it replaced immediately. You'd think people who work at a bike shop would know people who only use bikes to commute. Thanks for getting Jacques back on his feet.

La Fete des Rois

Jonathan as the king.

Today, we played a french game entitled "La Fete Des Rois" (The King's Party) with our friends from Montreal. It has something to do with the wisemen reaching Jesus on this day. January 6th will still always be Julie Chen's Birthday to me..... The premise of the game is: you bake a cake, you stick something in the cake (little polar bear figurine), the person who finds the polar bear becomes king for the day. Everyone else must serve that person. Surprise, surprise, but the person who baked the cake, Jonathan (not me, another one) ended up finding the prize. It was probably for the best, as he was the most experienced game member, and didn't take his powers overboard like others may have.

After the cake, we headed to across the bridge to North Fremantle to hit the ocean. As per usual, the afternoon was extremely windy, and sand gets EVERYWHERE!

Marie-Claude with the sunscreen beard.

Matt and Tom head for the waves

It was a fun day in the water. The 5 of us were mainly body surfing to the occasional big wave that came up. Nothing too dangerous. Then, one really big wave rolled through, I went to ride it, and it ended up flipping me over and driving me headfirst into the seafloor. The momentum of the wave continued til I had a complete flip. I got up to a sore head, and a sorer neck. I found out from my friends that I'd cut myself as well, and didn't see the damage until after I had biked home. Quite a few hairs have just disappeared off the upper forehead!

Not happy

Ewwwwww

Toews Australia

For the last 3 weeks, an unusually large amount of people have been reaching my site by typing "Toews Australia" into google. So far 47 people have accessed my site through this query. I'm not entirely sure why it is such a popular search. People must really want to see Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks in Australia. Since, I am unable to provide this service, I thought I would do the next best thing and put my 2 favourite Jonathan Toews video moments on the blog.

#1 - The Goal - Does it get much better than this?????



#2 - The Swear - Classic .... watch his face at the end during this live interview



Other Google Searchs (since Nov 17):

Australia Literally (127 Times)
Toews Australia (47)
Australia Literally Blog (11)
Australia Webcam Christmas (11) - hahahaha, that's a lot of people!
Bondi Beach (+ clothing, topless, nude) (11) - A lot of people interested in Bondi
Meekatharra (8) - more meekatharra
Cereal Blog (4) - mmmmm cereal
Solstice (Australia, Perth) (4) - People interested in Science
Mcloving Movie (3) - hahahahaha, I'm Mcloving it!
Perth Night Fireworks (3) - I don't think they existed
Bikini Massage Fremantle (2) - poor guy who looked for this .... doesn't know what he's getting himself into .....
"went topless" (1) - kinda funny
blue bottles in coogee beach? (1) - Yes! heThere are heaps!
csi jon boyd australia (1) - this is awesome!
curtains fade faster during daylight savings time (1) - see, I told you people actually think that in australia!
kangaroo beating up clown (1) - I'll have to look this one up myself
khaki burra (1) - a brownish cookaburra
Khaki Man (1) - yup that's the 2nd person who used that search to find my site
New Years Eve Girls Peeing (1) - someone is a freak!
Old Men, Pants Hiked up, funny, comic strip (1) - sounds pretty funny to me!
Sleepy Dingo (1) - awwww, so cute
Swanbourne Beach Dodgy (1)- Funny and true!
Two Scoops Raisin Bran Myth (1) - Starts to make me question the jingle!
"New Years Eve" "Peeing In" (1) - Don't get me started .... Don't even get me started

Sydney New Years Fireworks Video

Here is Video I took of the Fireworks from New Years Eve in Sydney ..... also added some photos of the day here.

New Years Eve in Sydney ... The Highlights, and the Lowlights

Am now back in Perth. Yesterday, I thought I would keep track of my New Years celebrations in Sydney and give you the excitement or lackthereof for the day......

9:30am: Wakeup call ..... Laura and JP are heading out the door for brekkie at McDonald's. Where else would you go? I pass and go with the cereal option. Uncle Toby's ..... haven't done a cereal blog on that one yet ......

10:45am: I paid the old landlord man the extra money it cost us to upgrade from a 2 bedroom to 2 bedroom with a cott. ..... Guess who got the cott when we switched rooms???

11:45am: We end up at a local mall. We check out the Surf shops to look at the overpriced Billabong and Quiksilver boardies, then stop at the grocery store to pick up snacks for the evening.

3:00pm: We catch the bus for the CBD

3:30pm: We reach Circular Quay and say our goodbyes. I wanted to headed to the East part of the city, and Laura and JP wanted to go North.

3:35pm: I get through my first security checkpoint. "Any glass or knives?" ... "No, but I have a glass knife" ..... I get handed a garbage bag, and I'm through!

3:40pm: Another checkpoint ..... how many more of these do I have to go through .... I've now made it right up to the Opera House!

3:45pm: Inside the Opera House Gates, I realize I won't be able to reach Mrs Macquaries Point. Doh. They completely lock off the the Park next to the city. You know how parks can be dangerous for people viewing fireworks.... grass, open spaces, fits lots of people.... not a good fireworks recipe.

Mrs Macquaries Point

Botanic Gardens

4:05pm: After a bit of an unwanted hike, I make it to my 3rd checkout point. This one is more organized than the usually "Bottlenose" lines. I feel like I am being lead to a slaughterhouse going back and forth in the gated line. I probably did 2kms just in that line.

4:24pm: (Orr:Havlat) Someone in the crowd yells "Go Blackhawks". We make eye contact and give each other the thumbs up. This is the best New Years Eve Ever!!!!!

4:30pm: I walk around the area to see the vantage points I can get to to watch the fireworks. It is an absolute wasteland. People are sprawled everywhere in as little clothing as possible (I'm not complaining). There were tents, picnic blankets, towels, chairs everywhere. This site wouldn't let people in til 10am, but where Laura and JP went, people were camping out overnight, or just putting rocks on their towels and "Reserving" their places.

Laura and JP hung out here at Cremorne Point

4:40pm: I find a spot in the shade and by the toilets. Perfect!

5:00pm: I realise the lineups for the toilets are getting so extremely long that it might be best to wait on the other side away from everyone. 7 more hours to go!!!

5pm - 8:50pm: I sleep, I eat, I rest, I read, I lie, I talk on the phone. Not a lot happens. I watch lots of guys head to bushes, to cliffs, to trees to relieve themselves. Some even went up against a fence and peed into the stands of an outdoor swimming pool. Ewwwww. Surprisingly, girls were not shy about heading to the bushes. It would take about 30 to 40 minutes to go to the toilet. I chose not to drink alcohol as I didn't want to deal with any bladder issues.

A Bat .... there are heaps of Bats in Sydney, they take over the skies at night!

8:50pm: I get up, and head for the point. There is a "Family Fireworks" at 9pm.

8:55pm: More people (boys and girls) peeing in the bushes everywhere. I reckon they didn't put enough toilets (Portaloos) for the area.

9:00pm: At this point the people who have spent nearly 11 hours sprawled on the lawn stand up. The surface area touching the grass goes from lots to little, and spaces open to walk right up to any point you want. The 9pm fireworks aren't anything special. Just a little warmup and some action for the kiddies. (No bridge effects). Thus I didn't really care much about them and spent the time warming up the camera.

9:10pm: I head back to my usual area and watch the mass exodus of people. Thousands are leaving. Mainly with kids, but still, if you have sat for 11 hours, what's another 3. That's ok for me. More space to find a good view for the big ones.

9:30pm: I am able to walk up to a few areas with gorgeous views and no one there. Since there were still 2:30 hours to go, I decide to head back to my usual place.

9:45pm: Back to my spot, I sit reading some book "The Collectors" that Laura gave me, and have a banana. Major mistake ......

10:30pm: After lying for a while, my stomach started to not feel well. I stood up. Uh oh, definately not well. I race to find some bushes. Up comes the banana!!!!! Mmmmmmm.

11:00pm: After thinking I had recovered and the banana had come up, incident #2 occurs. Gross!!!! What a bad night.

11:40pm: Ok, I feel better, time to get my place in the mob..... not a bad location.

11:45pm: Will these fireworks start already

11:50pm: I'm doing ok, really, really, I am.

11:55pm: Ok, head spinning a bit, it's getting very very hot. 5 minutes to go. One more Dot on the Hour Glass. The theme was "Time of our lives"

11:59pm: 1 more minute, almost there ...... Then

11:59:30pm: Uh oh ..... I take off for an exit as quickly as possible through the mobs of people. Fortunately, since the area has big trees, there are spots where no one goes because they have no view.

12:00am: CRAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

12:00:30am: Determined not to let the sickness (which is being blamed on eating too many cashews) ruin the night. I fight my back through the crowd. Actually I just walk along a path to my spot before I left. JP said I should have just thrown up on people and then I would have had the best view as everyone scatters away. The things you think of after the event.....

12:00:30am: Back in Action








12:12am: Fireworks end. The masses head off.

12:20am: I am booting it by people as they step in horse manure and slow down to wipe it off (true story). I have a 6 km walk ahead of me.

12:25am: Decide to take a shortcut across the park and spot the bus I would take home if I were to take the bus..... I run for it and am the 2nd to last person on. In Sydney, they only allow 15 standing passengers. There is still heaps of room, but the bus takes off.

12:45am: Back in the hotel

1:45am: Laura and JP make it home ok. Fortunately, they didn't eat too many cashews. Turns out they did what absolutely no one else in the city did. They drove to the other side, parked and walked down to walk the fireworks. That really is unheard of.

Hope you enjoy the stories, and weren't too grossed out. Like sand through the hourglass, so is the Time of Our Lives!!!!